Dr. Boyce Talks With Latino Studies Professor Alan Aja on What You Need to Know About Immigration
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Dr. Boyce Video on AOL Black Voices - 4/28/10
Dr. Boyce Video: Latino Studies Professor on What You Need to Know About Immigration
- With all the intense scrutiny on Arizona for its harsh anti-immigration legislation, the time has ... Read More
- By Alexis Stodghill on Apr 28th 2010 4:09PM | Comments (4)
Dr. Boyce Video -- Michael Bivins of Bel Biv DeVoe & Alfred Edmond of Black Enterprise on African American Music & Business
- Dr. Boyce Watkins brings you an exciting discussion on the business of media and entertainment with ... Read More
- By Alexis Stodghill on Apr 27th 2010 2:24PM | Comments (1)
Dr. Boyce Video -- Talking Black Finance With Expert Ryan Mack
- Dr. Boyce Watkins is taking his unique perspective beyond the printed page to the video realm on ... Read More
- By Alexis Stodghill on Apr 27th 2010 1:32PM | Comments (2)
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Dr. Boyce Talks With Michael Bivins of Bel Biv DeVoe & Alfred Edmond of Black Enterprise on African American Music & Business
Dr. Boyce Talks With Michael Bivins of Bel Biv DeVoe & Alfred Edmond of Black Enterprise on African American Music & Business
Dr. Boyce Watkins and Al Sharpton Discuss Henry Louis Gates' NY Times Article About "Slavery Blame Game"
Dr. Boyce Watkins and Al Sharpton Discuss Henry Louis Gates' NY Times Article About "Slavery Blame Game"
Dr. Boyce Watkins and Al Sharpton Discuss Henry Louis Gates' NY Times Article About "Slavery Blame Game"
Dr. Boyce Watkins and Al Sharpton Discuss Henry Louis Gates' NY Times Article About "Slavery Blame Game"
Monday, April 26, 2010
Dr. Boyce on MSNBC's TheGrio.com - 4/27/10
Immigration fight could pit black against brown
8:32 AM on 04/26/2010
OPINION - The outrageous legislation on immigration reform is right on time from a state that has proven itself to be increasingly obtuse in its thinking...
Henry Louis Gates lets US off the hook in 'slavery blame game'
2:55 PM on 04/23/2010
OPINION - Gates seems to have spent his entire life proving to the world that he is a "big shot," because simply being a black man may never have been quite good enough...
Obama's 'trickle-down' financial reform overlooks African-Americans
11:45 AM on 04/22/2010
OPINION - In other words, our ships can't rise with the tide, because some of these ships are not even in the economic water....
Height will forever be a towering figure
9:30 AM on 04/20/2010
OPINION - Dorothy Height reminds us that even long lives are far too short, and that the time for action is now...
Are Black Women Victims of a Bad Dating Situation?
by Lola Adesioye, Huffington Post
Over the past few months, black women and their relationships - or should I say, lack thereof - have been getting a lot of attention. The Washington Posthas done a couple of features on it. Then ABC'sNightline did a show asking why there are so many single black women.
All of a sudden the mainstream media is taking a keen interest in our love lives. We are being told that there is a 'crisis' amongst black women, particularly educated professional women, who are apparently unable to find a 'decent' black man.
Last night, ABC continued once again, with the airing of "Why Can't a Successful Black Woman Find a Man?," a taped discussion featuring Hill Harper, Steve Harvey, The View's Sherri Shepherd and others.
There's no doubt that it's a topic that sparks heated debates and discussions amongst black women and men. It has for years. But is it really that bad? Or is the media - now that it has found a hot topic - exploiting this issue for all that it's worth? I'm an educated black woman and I personally have no problem with meeting eligible, educated, great black men. Whether or not I choose to date them is another thing, but they are out there.
I am somewhat perturbed by the slew of stories on this topic. They are negative, unhelpful and only serve to perpetuate negative ideas about black men and women which often become self-fullfiling. They basically say 'oh, poor black women. They try so hard yet can't find a decent man ... Boo hoo, black women are victims. Ooh, it's all the fault of those pathetic black men. You know, they have no education or are locked up in jail.' Sorry, but I do not subscribe to that view.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Dr. Boyce Watkins: The NCAA Signs a Huge Deal and Players Get Almost Nothing
by Dr. Boyce Watkins
The NCAA just got a bit richer this year, signing a new contract with CBS Sports and Turner Sports for $10.8 billion dollars over 14 years. This contract is a 41% increase over the mammoth deal they originally signed back in 2001. They are also going to expand their tournament field to 68 teams, from the original 65. This is not the total annual revenue for the league. Instead, it simply represents the television rights to air March Madness each year.
The league also has a $55 million dollar, three-year contract with ESPN for the womens basketball tournament and 21 other NCAA championships. Beyond that, the league is also attempting to sell the rights to 60 other national national championships. To make a long story short, the NCAA is making money hand over fist and it's all because they have the biggest, baddest, most entertaining product that "hoods" across America can produce.
As a Finance scholar and businessman, when I hear that someone is working to "sell" something and get money in return, I think about free enterprise and capitalism. I think about the fact that someone (that someone being the NCAA) is working overtime to ensure that they get fair market value for the product they are offering to the world. These ideas of free enterprise also translate to college basketball coaches, many of whom earn as much as $4 million dollars per year, with salaries on par with NBA coaches. In fact, the NCAA earns more money during its post-season tournament than the NFL, NBA and Major League baseball. These are all the symptoms of a professional sports league, and some argue that college athletes should be paid for their work.
Dr. Boyce on ABC News: Financial Questions You Should Ask Your Partner
by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Finance Professor - Syracuse University
As a Finance Professor, I find it incredibly ironic that many people get married without talking about money. They talk about every kind of compatibility from emotional, to spiritual, sexual, and professional, but they seldom take the time necessary to ensure that they can tolerate the idea of sharing their financial life with a person who may not be on the same page. This problem is compounded in black relationships, where many women describe economic hurdles as one of the reasons that black women have trouble finding the right mate.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Where Henry Louis Gates Has it Wrong about Slavery
by Dr. Boyce Watkins
Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. recently wrote an interesting piece for the New York Times called, "Ending the Slavery Blame Game." In the piece, Gates effectively argues that the fight for reparations is convoluted and somewhat mitigated by the fact that African elites participated in the slave trade. While describing complex business deals made between some African leadership and the Europeans who brought Africans to the New World, it almost appears as though Gates is saying that this disturbing relationship somehow undermines the right of African-Americans to hold our government accountable for its involvement in crimes committed against our people.
At very least, I am under the assumption that by "ending the slavery blame game," Gates is arguing that we should stop blaming the United States government and white America for the rape, murder, castration, lynching and beating of our ancestors.
Sorry Dr. Gates, but I must respectfully (or perhaps not so respectfully) disagree. If a young girl is sold into prostitution by her own parents, the pimp must still pay for the suffering he caused the young woman. He can't simply say, "Her parents made a deal with me, so you should stop the blame game."
In other words, the United States, as a broad and powerful industrial entity, benefited from slavery to the tune of several trillion dollars. Much of this wealth was passed down from one white man to another, and was always out of the grasp of the black men, women and children who gave their lives on American soil in order to earn it. As a result, the median net worth of the African-American family is roughly one-tenth that of white American families and we have consistently higher unemployment due to our inability to create jobs, since white Americans own most businesses. These facts hold true without regard to how the African-American holocaust started in the first place. They also hold true because wealth and power are commodities that are passed down inter-generationally, and we missed out on all of this because we were slaves. What occurred after we left Africa can and must be considered independently from what happened while our forefathers were in the mother land.
Dr. Boyce: T-Pain's Ignorance Can't be Afforded by Our Community
by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University
I recently received an interesting email from a friend of mine. The email was linked to a video about the singer T-Pain, and reminded her of a conversation she and I'd just had a day earlier. The gist of our discussion was that there are far too many of "us" who enjoy being ignorant and uninformed. While this certainly doesn't define the bulk of the African American community, there are some of us who are proud of the fact that we don't read, don't understand things and don't want to educate ourselves. Even the actor Will Smith recalls hiding his books on the way home from school, since he didn't want his friends to know that he studied.
T-Pain seems to be determined to take ignorance to a new level. Known as the artist who once showed up to an awards show wearing a necklace with the words "Big Ass Chain" on it, Pain was made to look really silly by Fox News conservative Sean Hannity, who tricked the artist into endorsing the Republican party.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
National Action Network's Measuring the Movement Forum
Dr. Boyce Watkins Participates in National Action Network's Measuring the Movement Forum
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Dr. Boyce Watkins Discusses "Measuring the Movement" Forum with Al Sharpton on Keeping It Real
Dr. Boyce Watkins Discusses "Measuring the Movement" Forum and other current events with Al Sharpton on Keeping It Real
Dr. Dorothy Height Passes
by Dr. Boyce Watkins
Dorothy Height was born on the same day as my father (March 24). I'm not sure if that means anything, but it sure feels significant to me. Like my father, Height has had a dramatic influence on how I see the world, and what it means to have courage. She was accepted to Barnard College (the sister school for Columbia University), but not allowed to attend the school because they'd already accepted their two black students for the year. When my goddaughter takes it for granted that she attends Barnard today, I remind her of the struggles of Dorothy Height.
Barnard eventually apologized to Height for not admitting her to the university, but some apologies come entirely too late. By the age of 68, Dorothy had reached retirement age: too old to attend Barnard, but still young and restless in her tireless quest for social justice. Her journey for justice would continue another 30 years after the 1980 apology by the university. This reminds us that it's never too late for us to start changing the world, and the best time to start that process is now.
Representing the beauty of Delta Sigma Theta, Inc, Height served as president of the organization for over a decade. She also advised kings and queens in America, standing next to Dr. Martin Luther King in addition to Eleanor Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Lyndon B. Johnson. She reminded Eisenhower that black kids should be allowed to attend the same schools as whites, and helped President Johnson understand that black women deserve to serve at the highest levels of government.
Dorothy Height Dies at 98 Years Old
by Dr. Boyce Watkins
Dorothy Height was born on the same day as my father (March 24). I’m not sure if that means anything, but it sure feels significant to me. Like my father, Height has had a dramatic influence on how I see the world, and what it means to have courage. She was accepted to Barnard College (the sister school for Columbia University), but not allowed to attend the school because they’d already accepted their two black students for the year. When my God daughter takes it for granted that she attends Barnard today, I remind her of the struggles of Dorothy Height.
Barnard eventually apologized to Height for not admitting her to the university, but some apologies come entirely too late. By the age of 68, Dorothy had reached retirement age: too old to attend Barnard, but still young and restless in her tireless quest for social justice. Her journey for justice would continue another 30 years after the 1980 apology by the university, nearly as long as the life of Jesus. This reminds us that it’s never too late for us to start changing the world, and the best time to start that process is now.
Representing the beauty of Delta Sigma Theta, Inc, Height served as president of the organization for over a decade. She also advised kings and queens in America, standing next to Dr. Martin Luther King in addition to Eleanor Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Lyndon B. Johnson. She reminded Eisenhower that black kids should be allowed to attend the same schools as whites, and helped President Johnson understand that black women deserve to serve at the highest levels of government. Sadly enough, she was the only woman among the “big six” figures in the Civil Rights Movement, which reminds us that part of our journey on the path to equality means that we must be willing to honestly look at ourselves in the mirror. Even 40 years after the epic struggle of Height, King and others, we still find that only men are usually invited to the table of black leadership. This has got to change, for hypocrisy should not have a workspace in the house of black liberation.
The “God mother of the women’s movement” never wasted a second on her quest to make the black family stronger. She sacrificed her own opportunity to marry and have children to open the door for other women to have happy families of their own. As one of the sponsors of the Black Family Reunion, an event that takes place in Washington DC, Height has helped strengthen one of the most important institutions within the African American community.
Height’s affiliation with The National Council for Negro Women is nothing short of legendary. Chairing the organization for 50 years, Height helped shape the vision and inspiration for millions of women, their children and their grand children. She was even primed to head to the White House with Al Sharpton, Marc Morial and Ben Jealous this year to meet with President Obama. Only a snow storm of historic proportions could slow down the 98-year old who never stopped creating storms of her own.
There is no other Dorothy Height, and I wonder if there ever will be. Dorothy reminds us that even long lives are far too short, and that the time for action is now. There is a little bit of Dorothy inside all of us and we must insist upon carrying the torch.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and the initiator of the National Conversation on Race. He is also the author of the book, "Black American Money. For more information, please visit BoyceWatkins.com.
Monday, April 19, 2010
The Latest from Dr. Boyce on AOL Black Voices - 4/19/10
Harvard's Charles Ogletree Describes Sharpton's Link to Obama
- President Barack Obama's former mentor at Harvard University, Charles Ogletree, took the time to ... Read More
- By Boyce Watkins, PhD on Apr 19th 2010 1:10AM | Comments (8)
The Black Agenda: Wealth-Building Must Top the List - Dr. Boyce Money
- I recently attended the "Measuring the Movement" national leadership forum, hosted by Rev. Al ... Read More
- By Boyce Watkins, PhD on Apr 18th 2010 7:56PM | Comments (7)
Officer Charged With Beating a Motorist
- A police officer in suburban Chicago was caught on video hitting a driver 15 times with his baton ... Read More
- By Boyce Watkins, PhD on Apr 17th 2010 7:19PM | Comments (18)
Financial Lovemaking: Tiger, Tiki and the High Cost of Cheating
- In this episode of Financial Lovemaking 101, S. Tia Brown and I talk about the dynamics of ... Read More
- By Boyce Watkins, PhD on Apr 16th 2010 11:48PM | Comments (1)
Jay-Z Sues Red Sox Slugger David Ortiz Over 40/40 Club Name
- It turns out that hip-hop icon Jay-Z has filed a lawsuit against Boston Red Sox designated hitter ... Read More
- By Boyce Watkins, PhD on Apr 16th 2010 12:40PM | Comments (3)
Bill O'Reilly Gets Booed at Sharpton's National Convention
- I've been spending the last few days in New York at the National Action Network National ... Read More
- By Boyce Watkins, PhD on Apr 16th 2010 10:40AM | Comments (13)
President Obama Spends $18 Billion on Jobless Benefits
- Congress recently passed an $18 billion bill to extend jobless benefits for those who've been ... Read More
- By Boyce Watkins, PhD on Apr 16th 2010 10:18AM | Comments (0)
Police May Have Coerced Boys to Confess to Gang Rape of 7-Year-Old
- Two people familiar with the police interrogations of the two young boys accused of gang rape of ... Read More
- By Boyce Watkins, PhD on Apr 15th 2010 12:58PM | Comments (10)
Former NAACP President Benjamin Hooks Dead at 85
- The world just lost a champion. Benjamin Hooks, who served as executive director of the ... Read More
- By Boyce Watkins, PhD on Apr 15th 2010 11:23AM | Comments (45)
Man With HIV Knowingly Infected Women, Set to Be Released From Prison
- You may not know the name Nushawn Williams, but it's probably a name you should familiarize ... Read More
- By Boyce Watkins, PhD on Apr 14th 2010 9:17AM | Comments (85)
Kennedy Family Member Staying in Prison on Murder Conviction
- Michael Skakel is a nephew of Robert Kennedy's widow, Ethel. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison ... Read More
- By Boyce Watkins, PhD on Apr 13th 2010 6:04PM | Comments (8)
Mississippi Gov. Says Slavery Conversation is Not Important
- Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell received some push back for attempting to declare April Confederate ... Read More
- By Boyce Watkins, PhD on Apr 13th 2010 9:27AM | Comments (85)
NBA Star Derrick Coleman is Now Broke: $87 Million Up in Smoke
- According to the Bankruptcy Beat of the Wall Street Journal, former NBA superstar Derrick Coleman ... Read More
- By Boyce Watkins, PhD on Apr 11th 2010 11:54PM | Comments (48)
Michael Steele Tries to Explain Himself to Other Republicans
- Michael Steele, in an effort to cover himself before his fellow Republicans, gave a stirring ... Read More
- By Boyce Watkins, PhD on Apr 11th 2010 11:33PM | Comments (5)
Suspects Found in Slaying of Newlywed Couple
- On April 3rd, Nia Haqq and Michael Muchioki were returning from their engagement party. That ... Read More
- By Boyce Watkins, PhD on Apr 9th 2010 4:31PM | Comments (13)
Dr. Boyce and Lola Adesioye Talk about the Black Agenda
by Lola Adesioye, Huffington Post - www.LolaCreative.com
Should there be a "black agenda" in America? And if the answer to that question is 'yes,' what is the black agenda?
These are the questions that black leaders and black people have been discussing more and more since President Obama took office. Last week, Reverend Al Sharpton hosted a leadership summit addressing this very issue. Today a group of black leaders got together on an MSNBC special to talk about this issue in more detail. And many will remember the on-air argument that Tavis Smiley and Rev Sharpton had a few weeks ago about this topic.
Tavis believes that Obama isn't doing enough. Sharpton believes that Obama need not 'ballyhoo' a black agenda. I think most agree, though, that something needs to be done.
With a 16.5% unemployment rate (compared to 9.7% for white Americans), an education system that is under serving black children, higher than average rates of death from diseases like breast cancer, and continued social issues, it is hard to disagree that there is need for some kind of targeted and focused approach to dealing with the issues that affect African-American. But many are divided on whether or not the president is doing enough for black people, whether or not it's incumbent on him to do anything at all, and what should or shouldn't be done.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Guest List for the National Black Leadership Forum in NYC
Host: Tom Joyner- Host, “Tom Joyner Morning Show”
Moderator: Roland Martin- TV- ONE’s “Washington Watch” / Political Commentator
Leadership Roundtable
Rev. Al Sharpton- President, National Action Network
Marc Morial- CEO, National Urban League
Ben Jealous- President &CEO, NAACP
Dr. Elsie Scott- President and CEO, Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF) in Washington, D.C.
Angela Sailor- Coalitions Director, Republican National Committee
Lezli Baskerville- - President & CEO, NAFEO- America’s Black Colleges and Universities
Congressman James Clyburn
Discussion Panel
Moderator: Roland Martin- TV- ONE’s “Washington Watch” / Political Commentator
Warren Ballentine- Host, “The Warren Ballentine Show”
Dr. Boyce Watkins- Assistant Professor, Finance- Syracuse University
Dr. Charles Ogletree- Professor, Harvard Law School
Jeff Johnson- BET Personality/ Political Motivator
Chuck D- Recording Artist
Judge Greg Mathis- Judge and Star of Court TV Series “The Judge Mathis Show”
Reverend Doctor Frederick D. Haynes III-
Senior Pastor, Friendship West Baptist Church, Dallas Texas
Michael Eric Dyson- Professor, Georgetown University/ Author
Hermene Hartman- President/CEO, Hartman Publishing Group, INC.
LaKimba B. DeSadier- Executive Director, The National Black Caucus of State Legislators
** Michael Blake- Associate Director, White House Office of Public Engagement& Deputy Associate Director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs
** Danny Bakewell
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Nushawn Williams: Infected Women with HIV - Set to be Released from Prison
by Dr. Boyce Watkins
You may not know the name Nushawn Williams, but it's probably a name you need to know. You would especially want your daughter to know his name, as well as anyone else in the community who has reason to fear a more disturbing style of sexual predator for the new millenium.
Williams is in prison right now for knowingly infecting women with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. His victims were as young as 13 years old, and authorities believe he may have infected as many as 50 women prior to going to state prison in 1998. Police are working to keep Williams behind bars because they fear what might happen if he is released to the American public.
"He is prone to further sexual contact with underage individuals because of deficits in his emotional capacity to understand why this is wrong and attitudes that support these types of exploitive encounters. His emotional callousness, lack of remorse and impulsivity undermine important internal mechanisms for managing his sexual behavior," said examiner Jacob E. Hadden from the New York State Office of Mental Health. Authorities have determined that Williams suffers from a mental health abnormality that makes him incapable of understanding why his actions are wrong or harmful.
The possible release of Williams reminds us of the urgency of managing the public health alarm called HIV infection. African Americans are taking the lead in HIV infection rates, and what is also true is that the experience in our community is nothing less than a precursor to what is eventually going to happen all throughout America. What is most frightening about the case of Nushawn Williams is that he is probably not the only person deliberately spreading the disease: there are likely women and other men doing the same thing. To make matters worse, there are many in our community (and others) who are being incredibly irresponsible with their sexual behavior and infecting scores of people in the process.
As I felt empathy for celebrities like Magic Johnson and Eazy-E for their battles with HIV/AIDS, I wondered how many of us thought about the long list of partners they infected before finally getting their own positive test results. Did you ever think about the fact that many of those people are out in the community right now, quite a few of whom may have taken years to become aware of their HIV positive status? This is scary indeed, so the truth is that to protect yourself from the silent community killer, a general strategy of protection must be put into play.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Black Social Commentary at TheGrio - 4/10/10
Journalist & Activist
KFC doubles down on controversial bun-less sandwich
9:47 AM on 04/09/2010
OPINION - Do you really want KFC to dictate what the American diet looks like?...
Associate Professor Political Science Department - City University of New York
Is the 'Race to the Top' rigged?
9:08 AM on 04/09/2010
OPINION - True accountability can only emerge when states receive the funds they need to educate young people and not before it...
Author and Finance Professor at Syracuse University
Why is Virginia's governor still fighting the Civil War?
5:25 PM on 04/08/2010
OPINION - Attempting to honor the Confederacy while citing the evils of slavery is like trying to commemorate Santa Claus while denouncing Christmas...
Sports and social commentator
Tiger's adversaries won't like him when he's angry
9:47 AM on 04/08/2010
OPINION - Woods has a long history of embarrassing golfers on the golf course that have dissed him in the media...
Political commentator
Disarmament is Obama's only nuclear option
8:09 AM on 04/08/2010
OPINION - Obama's nuclear plan will make America capable of destroying the world fifty times over instead of one hundred times over. Is that making America less safe?...
Sports Writer
Braves' Heyward has Hank Aaron potential, but can't save baseball by himself
8:00 AM on 04/08/2010
OPINION - Jason Heyward's a phenomenal player. But to put the weight of getting black kids interested in baseball again on his shoulders is unfair, and a bit unrealistic...
Professor of Journalism at Georgetown University
Black Catholics remain alienated as church sex scandal rages
7:53 AM on 04/08/2010
OPINION - Blacks in the Catholic establishment seem more concerned with abortion and gay marriage as dire threats, then sex abuse or social justice...
Journalist, author and broadcaster.
Why Michael Steele will stay at the RNC
11:26 AM on 04/07/2010
OPINION - The RNC still needs Steele for the very reason he was plucked for the lead role in the first place...
Author and Finance Professor at Syracuse University
Politics as usual: Obama embraces black church for a boost
2:07 PM on 04/06/2010
OPINION - President Obama has shown a tendency to only acknowledge and meet with those who are most supportive of him...
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